TheAgitator.com
The Drug War Corrupts
Saturday, November 15th, 2008Looks like a Muncie, Indiana prosecutor had a pretty sweet side arrangement going with the local multi-jurisdictional drug task force:
McKinney and the drug task force used confidential settlement agreements, without court orders, to disperse hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and property for the task force’s use.[...]
In one case in which more than $50,000 was seized, records show that McKinney received $4,193 in attorney fees as well as 25 percent of vehicles and other personal property that was auctioned.
The money is supposed to go to a state general fund, where it’s then redistributed–a system that at least diminishes the perverse incentives in jurisdictions where the police department that makes the bust gets to keep all or a percentage of the forfeiture. McKinney and the task force tried to fashion a work-around that law–one that enabled both parties to get paid.
A judge has ordered McKinney to give back the $18,000+ he’s made thus far under the arrangement. He may also face criminal charges.
Thanks to my dad for sending the link.
I’m looking forward to the next update!
‘May also face criminal charges’ is hilarious, though in a sad way.
there’s an asset forfeiture scam unraveling here in St. Louis, too. I think this nonsense is just the way it is, because there doesn’t seem to be any disgust or outrage in the general population.
maybe the guys saying public schools are a conspiracy to dumb down the population and implement a fascist govt are on to something!
It is cliche that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
But in reality, power is always absolutely corrupt. Thus, absolute vs. non-absolute power is a distinction without a difference. Power and corruption are two sides of the same equation.
More accurate to say, “Power is corrupt and tends toward absolutes.”
It is the State that amplifies power, and thus, corruption. Disperse power to every individual and the corruption remains, but without the amplification. Criminals like McKinney would be simply criminals instead of prosecutorially-immune criminals, and thus much easier to deal with.
cynical, only the corrupt assume that everyone else is.
mdh, what’s even worse, and more terrifying, is that those who are honest, assume that everyone else is…
Come now Radley! Are you saying that drug enforcement activities might be associated with corruption? With all the new professionalism in our police force, surely this was just one rotten apple. There was almost no corruption during alcohol prohibition, so this must be an isolated incident.
The problem is that the victims are politically powerless in asset forfeiture cases. It’s amazing these people were caught.
Fight on, fight on, dear old Muncie/Fight on, hoist the gold and blue/You’ll be tattered, torn, and hurten/Once the Munce is done with you/Go… Eagles!
Any repeat any repeat ANY law enforcement mechanism which operates as a revenue generator is going to undermine respect for the law and create a temptation to apply the law excessively harshly and/or a temptation to wet one’s beak (or one’s department’s beak).
dishonest and corrupt are quite different.
Not quite as impressive as McKinny’s abandoned property scheme but still nice. If you missed it, that other deal was to have property in police evidence lockup pending a forfeiture hearing declared abandoned and the seized as abandoned when the owner didn’t show up to contest it (because the owner was in jail).
Muncie IN. is not that far from Lima OH., and we all know how Lima handles the law. Whats going on in the midwest?
“cynical, only the corrupt assume that everyone else is.”
mdh, it is power, or the exercise thereof, that is corrupt. Individuals do not exercise power in every situation. In situations where individuals cooperate voluntarily with each other, there is no corruption. However, in situations where power is exercised it is ALWAYS corrupt.
It is the height of honesty for me to admit that when I exercise power, when I resort to the use of force, I am being corrupt. Anyone who doesn’t admit the darker side of his or her nature is in denial. Denial does not change reality and it creates more harm.
“dishonest and corrupt are quite different.”
Dishonesty is a subclass of corruption. In that way, dishonesty is as different from corruption as oranges are from citrus fruit.
Not much of a difference after all, mdh.
Tar and Feathers!